Ocean Tomo Auctions
Submit IP
Due Diligence
Downloads
Results & Photos
FAQs
Fall 2008 (Chicago)
Registration
Venue
Gala Dinner
Conference Program
Listing Fees
Bidding Procedures/
Conditions of Sale
Sponsors & Media
Submit IP
Due Diligence
Downloads
Results & Photos
FAQs
Fall 2008 (Chicago)
Registration
Venue
Gala Dinner
Conference Program
Listing Fees
Bidding Procedures/
Conditions of Sale
Sponsors & Media
Upcoming Auctions
FALL 2008
LIVE IP AUCTION
October 29-30, 2008
Trump International
Chicago
SPRING 2009
LIVE IP AUCTION
March 26-27, 2009
The Ritz-Carlton
San Francisco
SUMMER 2009
LIVE IP AUCTION
June 11-12
Four Seasons Hotel
Hong Kong
FALL 2008
LIVE IP AUCTION
October 29-30, 2008
Trump International
Chicago
SPRING 2009
LIVE IP AUCTION
March 26-27, 2009
The Ritz-Carlton
San Francisco
SUMMER 2009
LIVE IP AUCTION
June 11-12
Four Seasons Hotel
Hong Kong
Latest News
June 30, 2008
Ocean Tomo Auctions Announces Impressive $12.6M Results from Second European Live Intellectual Property Auction
Fall 2008 Live IP Auction
October 29-30 • Chicago
Register Now!
The Ocean Tomo Fall Auction & Conference is a full 2-day event that includes a 1 1/2-day conference on cutting-edge IP issues, including "Managing IP Risk", "Buying and Selling IP", and “IP Finance” followed by the Live IP Auction. The events will be held on October 29th & 30th at the Trump International Hotel and Chicago Cultural Center.
We hope you can join us for the CLE-approved courses, the Gala Dinner at the historic Stock Exchange Room in The Art Institute of Chicago and, of course, the Live Auction where hundreds of IP assets will be transacted.
Sponsors
About Ocean Tomo Auctions
The Origin
Ocean Tomo’s model of a multi-lot, live auction for intellectual property was created to introduce the marketplace to a forum for facilitating the open and public exchange of Intellectual Property (“IP”). The auction was designed to bring a sense of urgency and closure to IP transactions, create a center for IP liquidity, and effectuate transparency for a market in which none had historically existed.
The auction brings numerous benefits to both a seller and buyer. From a seller perspective, the auction is the first forum for transacting intellectual property in which the burden of purchasing is actually shifted to the buyer. The auction structure and format enable a seller to offer a pre-set terms and conditions including a minimum price, “the reserve”. Many auction participants and followers in the marketplace now recognize the value of the auction format.
Obviously, the live auction model also offers substantial benefits to a potential seller. Notably, the live auction brings sellers closure and the benefit of a true “market sale”, while also affording their intellectual property great exposure even if a sale is not completed on the auction floor. Historically, the intellectual property market has been insulated as transactions have been conducted privately without public discussion as to buyers or price. Ocean Tomo Auctions provide a platform by which a seller, whether a large or small company or individual inventor, may broadly market their intellectual property capitalizing upon the press garnered by the auction itself realizing a competitive bidding environment.
For buyers of intellectual property, the auction provides an entirely different set of advantages. The foremost benefit is open, informed access and an equal opportunity to buy. The auction also provides market transparency and price discovery. Without Ocean Tomo’s auction floor, buyers of IP have extreme difficulty in understanding “market pricing” as a very limited public data set for comparable transactions is available.
With traditional market transactions shrouded in secrecy, potential buyers are generally unaware of the intellectual property acquisition opportunities and consequently are unable to act to pursue them. Often, operators learn about IP which was for sale only after receipt of a licensing or notice letter. This has rendered, and will continue to render, companies susceptible to unforeseeable actions. Conversely, the public nature of the auction empowers companies with a licensing interest, or interest in pursuing the development of new technologies and/or portfolio diversification, equal opportunity to know of and pursue opportunities. By making the forum for IP transactions public, the auction provides the market with intelligence of what is available for acquisition as well as assuring that the buyer will pay a true market price for IP assets.
While the auction brings transparency to the IP marketplace, buyers can conduct diligence and bid for auction lots anonymously. Indeed, Ocean Tomo is very conscientious of bidder confidence, and will not disclose the identity of any bidder or bidding entity. Significantly, all bidders and sellers -- by agreement with Ocean Tomo -- represent and warrant that no involvement in the auction by other sellers or buyers will be used as evidence in any future litigation. Such well thought through market provisions afford bidders an increased level of security and comfort regarding their auction participation. Ocean Tomo seeks to enable all bidders and sellers with an ability to participate in the auction without undue fear of negative legal ramifications, regardless of their results within the auction.
Past Auctions
The first Ocean Tomo Live Intellectual Property Auction was held in San Francisco, California in April 2006. It featured 78 lots of patents and resulted in transactions both on and off the auction floor. The six follow-on events held since offered to the intellectual property market lots diversified between patents, trademarks, copyrights, music-related properties and domain names. Each subsequent auction resulted in increased bidding activity and new sellers to the event. Sellers of intellectual property offered in past auctions include large multi-national corporations, small and mid-sized companies, individual inventors, investors and others.
Ocean Tomo has demonstrated through the success of the transactions completed in each of the past auctions – both on and off the floor – that a live auction is becoming the premier forum for transacting intellectual property:
The Ocean Tomo Live Intellectual Property Auction has become referred to by many leading industry professionals as a “forum of commerce.” The event brings together some of the world’s IP leaders including heads of IP of the largest companies to former national patent commissioners. Ocean Tomo and the auction have also received considerable national and international media attention, including features and appearances on CNBC, Bloomberg TV, The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Forbes, Red Herring, BusinessWeek, CNET, Reuters, Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, Variety, and Billboard, among many others. Moving forward, Ocean Tomo plans to hold multiple auctions annually in venues around the world including Europe, Asia, and the United States.
Auctions Professionals
October 29-30 • Chicago
Register Now!
The Ocean Tomo Fall Auction & Conference is a full 2-day event that includes a 1 1/2-day conference on cutting-edge IP issues, including "Managing IP Risk", "Buying and Selling IP", and “IP Finance” followed by the Live IP Auction. The events will be held on October 29th & 30th at the Trump International Hotel and Chicago Cultural Center.
We hope you can join us for the CLE-approved courses, the Gala Dinner at the historic Stock Exchange Room in The Art Institute of Chicago and, of course, the Live Auction where hundreds of IP assets will be transacted.
Submit IP
We are now accepting submissions for our upcoming auctions and have identified the following areas of interest:
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Sponsors
Strategic Partner  |
Cocktail Reception Sponsor  |
Track Host  |
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Silver Sponsor  |
Cybercenter & Wireless Sponsor  |
Silver Sponsor  |
About Ocean Tomo Auctions
The Origin
Ocean Tomo’s model of a multi-lot, live auction for intellectual property was created to introduce the marketplace to a forum for facilitating the open and public exchange of Intellectual Property (“IP”). The auction was designed to bring a sense of urgency and closure to IP transactions, create a center for IP liquidity, and effectuate transparency for a market in which none had historically existed.
The auction brings numerous benefits to both a seller and buyer. From a seller perspective, the auction is the first forum for transacting intellectual property in which the burden of purchasing is actually shifted to the buyer. The auction structure and format enable a seller to offer a pre-set terms and conditions including a minimum price, “the reserve”. Many auction participants and followers in the marketplace now recognize the value of the auction format.
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“Patent holders are eager for alternative means for monetizing their patent assets. This is especially true for patent holders that view aggressive licensing strategies as neither feasible nor desired. The emergence of a consistent and robust marketplace for patent assets…should provide liquidity to the patent market and allow intellectual property holders to realize value from their unused patent portfolios through avenues other than licensing and litigation.”
–“Patent auctions: emerging trend?” by Perry J. Viscounty, Michael Woodrow De Vries and Eric M. Kennedy (The National Law Journal, May 8, 2006).
Obviously, the live auction model also offers substantial benefits to a potential seller. Notably, the live auction brings sellers closure and the benefit of a true “market sale”, while also affording their intellectual property great exposure even if a sale is not completed on the auction floor. Historically, the intellectual property market has been insulated as transactions have been conducted privately without public discussion as to buyers or price. Ocean Tomo Auctions provide a platform by which a seller, whether a large or small company or individual inventor, may broadly market their intellectual property capitalizing upon the press garnered by the auction itself realizing a competitive bidding environment.
For buyers of intellectual property, the auction provides an entirely different set of advantages. The foremost benefit is open, informed access and an equal opportunity to buy. The auction also provides market transparency and price discovery. Without Ocean Tomo’s auction floor, buyers of IP have extreme difficulty in understanding “market pricing” as a very limited public data set for comparable transactions is available.
-
“A robust public market for patents will no doubt increase the overall number of patents available for sale and the visibility of available patents, thereby facilitating…strategic patent purchases and ensuring that all potential purchasers have an opportunity to bid on patents in which they are interested.”
–Viscounty, et al.
With traditional market transactions shrouded in secrecy, potential buyers are generally unaware of the intellectual property acquisition opportunities and consequently are unable to act to pursue them. Often, operators learn about IP which was for sale only after receipt of a licensing or notice letter. This has rendered, and will continue to render, companies susceptible to unforeseeable actions. Conversely, the public nature of the auction empowers companies with a licensing interest, or interest in pursuing the development of new technologies and/or portfolio diversification, equal opportunity to know of and pursue opportunities. By making the forum for IP transactions public, the auction provides the market with intelligence of what is available for acquisition as well as assuring that the buyer will pay a true market price for IP assets.
While the auction brings transparency to the IP marketplace, buyers can conduct diligence and bid for auction lots anonymously. Indeed, Ocean Tomo is very conscientious of bidder confidence, and will not disclose the identity of any bidder or bidding entity. Significantly, all bidders and sellers -- by agreement with Ocean Tomo -- represent and warrant that no involvement in the auction by other sellers or buyers will be used as evidence in any future litigation. Such well thought through market provisions afford bidders an increased level of security and comfort regarding their auction participation. Ocean Tomo seeks to enable all bidders and sellers with an ability to participate in the auction without undue fear of negative legal ramifications, regardless of their results within the auction.
Past Auctions
The first Ocean Tomo Live Intellectual Property Auction was held in San Francisco, California in April 2006. It featured 78 lots of patents and resulted in transactions both on and off the auction floor. The six follow-on events held since offered to the intellectual property market lots diversified between patents, trademarks, copyrights, music-related properties and domain names. Each subsequent auction resulted in increased bidding activity and new sellers to the event. Sellers of intellectual property offered in past auctions include large multi-national corporations, small and mid-sized companies, individual inventors, investors and others.
Ocean Tomo has demonstrated through the success of the transactions completed in each of the past auctions – both on and off the floor – that a live auction is becoming the premier forum for transacting intellectual property:
-
“The proliferation of intellectual property auctions – both in-house and online – will promote the exchange of patent properties. Auctions will give increased financial incentives to successful inventors and provide a robust market for investors.”
–“Under the gavel: a defense of patent auctions” by Barry Evans and Jean-Paul Ciardullo (The Daily Deal, Monday, October 23, 2006, p.3)
The Ocean Tomo Live Intellectual Property Auction has become referred to by many leading industry professionals as a “forum of commerce.” The event brings together some of the world’s IP leaders including heads of IP of the largest companies to former national patent commissioners. Ocean Tomo and the auction have also received considerable national and international media attention, including features and appearances on CNBC, Bloomberg TV, The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Forbes, Red Herring, BusinessWeek, CNET, Reuters, Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, Variety, and Billboard, among many others. Moving forward, Ocean Tomo plans to hold multiple auctions annually in venues around the world including Europe, Asia, and the United States.
Auctions Professionals
| Andrew T. Ramer | 312-327-4431 PH | 312-327-4401 FX |
| Managing Director | aramer@oceantomo.com | Download v-card | Biography |
| Wendy Chou | 312-377-4862 OFFICE | 718-812-6707 CELL |
| Director/Media & Marketing | wchou@oceantomo.com | Download v-card | Biography |
| Justin Basara | 312-327-4411 PH | 312-327-4401 FX |
| Director | jbasara@oceantomo.com | Download v-card | Biography |
| Auctions | 312-377-4851 PH | auctions@oceantomo.com |